Ab0134 Prevalence of Central Sensitization in Patients With Axial Spondyloarthritis: Influence on Quality of Life and Potential Risk of Fibromyalgia

Background: Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is a chronic rheumatic disease characterized by intensive chronic pain syndrome, that can include different components - nociceptive, neuropathic and nociplastic. From the literature data, it is known that in 15% to 40% of patients with rheumatic diseases, the phenomenon of central sensitization (CS) may occur, which may be one of the mechanisms of nociplastic pain. Chronic pain impacts quality of life (QoL); however, the role of CS in quality of life (QoL) needs clarification. Also, CS underlies the development of fibromyalgia (FM). Objectives: Our study aimed to determine the prevalence of CS in patients with axSpA and its influence on QoL and calculate the potential risk of FM. Methods: We examined 72 patients with axSpA according to the ASAS Criteria (38.9% female). The mean age of examined patients was 41.51±10.9 years (M±SD). All patients were asked to complete self-reported disease-related questionnaire QoL -ASQoL. To assess the intensity of pain, we used the VAS-Pain scale. To determine CS, the Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI) was used. Also, all patients completed the self-administered questionnaire Fibromyalgia Rapid Screening Tool (FiRST) for FM screening. The study was conducted in compliance with bioethical standards. All data were analyzed using IBM Statistics SPSS 23 software. Results: Among 72 patients with axSpA, there were 21 persons (29.2%) with CS (CSI≥40) with mean scores of CSI (M±SD) - 50.09±11.4. Presence of CS in axSpA patients was associated with higher intensity of pain according VAS-Pain scale (8.00±1.73 compared group without CS - 5.88±1.87, p<0.01). Also, presence of CS may significantly influence on the quality of life patients with axSpA (12.7±4.04 compared group without CS - 7.21±3.32, p<0.01). It was confirmed by the significant correlation found between CS and ASQoL (r= 0.578, p< 0.01). FM screening in axSpA patients detected the presence of FM according to FiRST in 61.9% (13/21) in the CS(+) group and in 9.8% (5/51) in the CS(-) group, p<0.05. Also, we calculated the potential risk of FM in axSpA patients: the presence of CS increases the chances of development of FM by more than 14 times (OR = 14.95; 95% CI 4.1744 - 53.5418, p <0.01). Conclusion: Our results showed a high prevalence of CS in patients with axSpA and a significant influence on QoL. The presence of CS significantly increases the potential risk of FM. REFERENCES: NIL. Acknowledgements: NIL. Disclosure of Interests: None declared.